Genesis: The Birth of Lussuria
Summary: What happened in Lussuria's life to make him who he was? This is the story of one boy as he grows to become a member of the Varia.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; I just borrowed them for a bit. Except Angeline. I own her.
Antonio Fontana was 10 years old when his baby sister was born. The baby, Angeline Fontana, immediately had him wrapped around her tiny fingers, and he knew it.
She was, after all, HIS baby sister; therefore she was smarter, cuter, and all around better than all of the other babies that may or may not be in the general area. She was also, in his unbiased opinion, the cutest baby on the face of the planet. After all, she had tufts of blonde hair and blue eyes…and that was supposed to be the picture of adorable, right?
And she was quiet. Which was a boon for him, that meant that, when his classmates were complaining about their baby siblings waking up at all hours screaming bloody murder, he can, smugly, tell them that HIS sister was a perfect little angel and never woke up screaming, and wasn't that just grand for him. Yes, actually, he was gloating, and no, he didn't care that he was isolating himself from his classmates…they were idiots anyway.
It was also a point of some pride, for him at least, that his sister preferred him over their parents. Of course, that might have had something to do with him going out of his way to be awake before them so he could feed her, and pick out her clothes, and make sure she was clean…yeah, Angeline was HIS sister, and there was no way he was going to allow his parents to take his place as the most important person in her life. No way.
In a fit of desperation to get their son to do something, anything, that didn't have anything to do with his baby sister; his parents signed him up, without telling him, for a martial arts class. They were unsure what class to enroll him in, so they flipped a coin and chose Muay Thai, rather than karate or aikido (which is what normal parents would have chosen). Fortunately, aside from one initial furious outburst, Antonio was more than happy to go to his classes…especially when he realized that he was better than everyone else in the class.
Actually, he was good enough that he was entered in tournaments, and winning said tournaments, within a year. And, to make it even better, his baby sister would be sitting in the stands watching him beat up all of the other people. It was nice, really, to show her, even at her young age, that her older brother was fully capable of protecting her from the evils of the world. And, he decided, even if the only thing he was good at was fighting, at least his sister would be proud of him.
It was here, in the ring, that Antonio Fontana developed a lust for battle…and for winning.
He managed to keep his Battle Lust in check when he was at home, and when he was at school. After all, he had his classes and the tournaments that he entered, so lashing out at home (where his parents and sister were) and at school (where no one could even hope to match him) was just illogical, even to him. So long as he was fighting, and winning, he was happy.
However, when he turned fourteen years old, the unthinkable happened. He was fighting in a tournament, and the fight went very, very wrong…He ended up sending his opponent to the hospital, in a coma, and eventually, his opponent passed away from internal bleeding in the brain. While he wasn't punished for murder (it was decided that the Tournament officials should have stopped the fight, and didn't) he was punished in other ways. He was kicked out of his Muay Thai classes, and was banned from official tournaments for the rest of his life.
Heartbroken and devastated, Antonio sank into a depression that caused him to withdraw from his parents and his remaining friends. The only person he would talk to, or even interact with, was his four year old sister. After all, Angeline was an innocent in the whole mess, and, with just one look at her adoring face and big blue eyes, Antonio would temporarily emerge from his funk and would take the time to play with her, or to read to her.
So, somehow, it was rather fitting that it was Angeline that solved the problem of Antonio not being able to fight like he wanted to…even if she did it on accident.
Angeline was a very smart girl, nearing genius level of intelligence, but knowing something and understanding something are two completely different things. So when the Fontana's neighbors started talking about an underground Fighting Tournament that was taking place in the next town over, and how the reigning champion (some person named Leviathan) was looking for a challenge, Angeline did the only thing that seemed logical to her young mind. She went to her brother and told him about the tournament and about the Levi person who was looking for a challenge.
Amused at his sister, but intrigued, Antonio skipped his classes the following day, and walked to the neighboring town. After asking around for a while, he ended up being directed to a local bar, and from there, to a slightly older teen who was downing beers like there was no tomorrow. The teen was taller than Antonio, and was obviously a fighter, and he had won many fights, from what Antonio could see from his back. He also thought that the man was rather handsome, in a rugged sort of way…not that he noticed such things normally, it was just one of those random thoughts that he had.
Steeling his nerve, Antonio called Leviathan out, telling him that "He was nothing more than a cheap charlatan, and that there was no way that he would beat a Master of the Muay Thai fighting style".
Shocked at the Kid's ballsy attack, Leviathan dragged him outside and effortlessly thrashed him…but all of the injuries that Antonio suffered were superficial.
"Alright kid, I'm impressed." Levi said as Antonio got up from an attack that should have had him unconscious, "You have balls. First to verbally attack me like you did and second to stand up after you lost. You have a name?"
"I'm Antonio Fontana," He snapped, wiping blood from his lip irritably, "And I'm just getting started!"
"Cool it, kid." Levi said, "A name like Antonio is not going to do on the Underground circuit…and never give out your name, ever, you understand me." He looked over Antonio through a calculating eye, "Lussuria. That'll be your name on the Circuit. I'll give you the name of one of my starting sponsors…they'll get you started. See you around Luss." With that said, Levi turned on his heel and stormed back into the bar, ignoring the kid behind him.
Antonio looked at the paper that had the sponsor's name on it, and grinned in glee. Finally, finally he was going to be able to fight again. Angeline was going to get a huge bowl of ice cream when he got home…and maybe a new doll.
As he started his fights, Lussuria noticed that he was always winning. At first, it was because his opponents were just that pathetic and weak, and then, later, it was because his opponents were unable to match his desire to win at all costs…because he was just unable to handle losing.
Somehow, between the original fight with Levi and the Tournaments that he was taking part in, Antonio managed to run into Levi, several times, and before long they were friends…and then they became friends with benefits. It suited the both of them perfectly. Antonio was shocked, however, when Levi told him that his birth name was Viktor Gulin, and that he was a Russian native. Not long after that, they went from being friends with benefits, to dating.
The first time Antonio brought Viktor home to meet his parents, Angeline was less than thrilled. Antonio was HER brother, how dare that interloper try to take him away from her. She was, to say the least, very put out. She pouted and cried, and threw things, and ended up getting grounded for throwing a glass at Viktor's head.
As soon as she realized that Viktor wasn't going anywhere, and that he was the reason that he brother was happy again…as well as the fights…she stopped her temper-tantrums, and settled with sulking whenever Viktor was around. It was three months after the first time that Viktor came over that Angeline realized what, exactly, the underground tournaments consisted of…and that it wasn't a tournament, like the name implied, rather a fight to the death.
She begged, pleaded, and threatened…but it did no good.
Antonio was hooked…for him, the fight was his drug and winning was his high. And he always won.
Perhaps Angeline saw this or, maybe, she just saw that her beloved older brother wasn't moved by her tears, because she just sighed, and told him to "tread lightly".
The following year was one of the best that the, now 15 year old, Antonio would ever remember. He was winning left, right and center; his sister had finally accepted the relationship between him and Viktor…and he and Viktor were happy and healthy. He had no complaints, and he had, in all honesty, forgotten the warning that Levi had given him when they first met.
After winning one of his tougher matches, his sponsor went to him and just started talking to him…and, while he wasn't paying attention, Antonio let it slip that he had a baby sister, and parents that lived not far from the circuit, and that his parents were unaware of what he did for a living, but his sister knew, and wasn't thrilled about it. Had he been paying attention to his sponsor, and had he seen the look on the man's face, he would have killed him, but since he didn't, and he was young and stupid, Antonio allowed himself to forget that conversation had ever happened.
It was two months later when his sponsor came up to him, right before a big fight, and told him to throw that match. Antonio argued and fought, saying that he wasn't ever going to throw a match, and that wasn't his style, and he didn't care that there was a lot of money riding on him losing his fight…he didn't fight for the money after all.
And, Antonio being himself, he ignored the warning that his sponsor gave him.
And he went out and won the match, soundly, without so much as a scratch on himself, and, after throwing a superior look at the short, portly man who had told him to throw the fight, he left with Viktor. While riding the high from his victory, he went to Viktor's house for a "date" night, which was common for the two of them...what wasn't common was for Antonio to spend the entire night at Viktor's place, without calling to let his family know where he was. He figured that they would assume that he was with his lover, and left it at that.
As soon as the night had finished, and Antonio was dressed he insisted that he had to leave and get home. Viktor insisted that he walk him home, not because he was unable to fend for himself…but because he actually liked spending time with Antonio, and that was worth all of the grief that Mr. and Mrs. Fontana was going to give them, and the betrayed look that Angeline would adopt when she felt that her brother was doing something wrong.
The first thing that Antonio noticed was that the house was dark. The house was dark, the curtains drawn, and his father's car was sitting in the driveway. That meant that his father hadn't gone to work, and that his mother hadn't woken up to open the curtains. The second thing he noticed, as he walked up to the front door, was that the house seemed unnaturally silent. A house with a 5, almost 6, year old little girl was rarely silent.
The third thing he noticed as soon as he opened the door.
The house was filled with a scent that he knew as well as his lover. It was the scent of blood, and a lot of it.
Antonio paused, stiffened, and walked into the living room, clenching his jaw when he saw his mother.
She had been unaware of the danger that she was in, that much was obvious. And her attacker had attacked when her back was turned, so she wasn't even able to scream when death came for her. The person who attacked her had actually separated her head from her body, and then placed the head on the table facing the entrance. The carpet, which had been white the night before, had been stained red with his mother's blood.
Furious, but knowing that it was not going to do any good at that point in time, Antonio stepped out of the living room and walked down the hall…only to see his father's body lying in the middle of the hall. He had, obviously, been going for the gun that he kept in the hall closet, and had been unable to reach it. That suggested that his father's attacker knew that Mr. Fontana was a former sniper, which had implications that Antonio did not want to think about, or that his attacked just didn't want to deal with the trouble a gun could cause. Mr. Fontana had been stabbed in the back, no less than 20 times.
Stiff with fury, Antonio and Viktor stepped around the prone form of Mr. Fontana and started up the stairs.
By this point in time a lead weight had settled deep in the pit of Antonio's stomach, and he knew that his baby sister was dead at the hands of whoever killed his parents…but he still hoped that maybe she had managed to get away.
They walked up the stairs, noting that bloody footprints and ignoring them as unimportant, and opened the first door at the top of the stairs. Antonio peered in, and heaved a sigh of relief. The room was his sister's, and, while it had been trashed beyond all recognition, there was no blood, or body.
Viktor, however, just motioned to the bloody footprints, which lead to Antonio's room. They pushed open the door and found her.
Angeline had been wearing her pajamas, and must have heard her parents' death from her bedroom, and she must have done the one thing that was logical to her…go to big brother. Except big brother wasn't there, and she hadn't had time to get away from her attackers. Angeline had been beaten to death…and her neck was obviously broken.
Viktor glanced at his lover, and winced at the look on Antonio's face. It was a look or such extreme loss, and rage…and he had no outlet to show what he was feeling. "Tonio, we need to get out of here." He grabbed his lover's arm and dragged him out of the house; leaving the three dead Fontana's alone.
The funeral was hard. Antonio was strangely still and silent, with a cold, dead, look in his eyes as he stared at the three tombstones that marked his only family. As Viktor watched his lover, after all of the other people had left, he knew that there was no going back from here. He should have known, really…Angeline was the light in Antonio's life. Antonio died that day when he found his baby sister. He died when he saw that she went looking for him, and he wasn't there. Antonio was dead. All that was left was Lussuria.
Viktor sighed silently. Antonio had needed Viktor. Lussuria didn't. Lussuria could use Leviathan…with another sad sigh; Viktor stored away his true personality and brought Leviathan, and hoped that Viktor would be needed by Antonio again someday.
"Lussuria," Levi said, sounding bored, "We should go."
Lussuria glanced at Levi, nodded curtly, and strode out of the cemetery…never once looking back.
Over the next three weeks, five men were found murdered throughout Italy. One had been a sponsor for the Underground Fighting Tournament; he had been tortured beyond recognition. The second had been a middle man, who was well known for hiring Hit-men, like the sponsor he had been tortured beyond recognition. The third, fourth, and fifth had been hit-men; one had been decapitated, one had been stabbed in the back 20 times, and one had been beaten to death.
All five deaths remain unsolved.
Two weeks after that, on Lussuria's sixteenth birthday, the two teens were approached by a strange group of three people; two men and one infant. One of the men, with silver hair, started screaming abuse at them and managed to pick a fight with Levi over something of little consequence. The infant muttered something about no value and hovered over to the wall. And the angry looking dark haired man snarled at the two of them and told them to "Be at this fucking address by the end of the week or I'll fucking kill you trash!" And the three left, leaving a badly bruised and beaten Leviathan and a bewildered Lussuria.
They did as they were told (neither wanted to be killed by someone quite as insane as that man) and found themselves at a place called the Varia, and they were offered places as actual members of the Varia, because they were skilled and Leviathan hadn't died when Squalo beat on him…and so they became the Sun and Lightning Guardians, respectively. Not long after that they were joined by a small eight year old little Prince, who managed to kill his entire family because he could.
The Varia, a group of highly insane and psychopathic murderers, was complete for the first time in ages.